Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Ok so I have missed all deadlines, couldn’t submit an entry for JFI-Potato and I wanted to send a soup for Alanna, but am too late and have missed that too, almost, unless I really try hard tonight.

To console myself and to make good of the little time I had, I made my all time favorite comfort soup, a dal actually, the Bangali Musuri’rDal or the Masoor Dal.This is the Dal we, as in my family, look forward to when we are down, depressed, tired, anxious, worried or hard pressed for time. We make it quick, there’s no way you can lengthen the process anyway, have it with White Rice & Alu Seddho (mashed Potatoes) with green chillies and a quarter of a lemon on the side and bask in it’s warmth slowly forgetting the gloom that had shrouded us and feel content.If I am in a good mood and do not need all that carb to lift my spirit, I have this Dal as soup and again feel contented.

This Dal is like my husband D, whom I can trust to warm up my car in the cold mornings even though we have fought the night before and googled for “marriage for dummies” earnestly.This Dal is like my dear friend who lends me a patient ear and hears me bitch about D though I trust her not to believe anything I uttered while in an acerbic mood.This Dal is like my Ma, whom I can call up at any time of Day or Night to complain about how hard a day I had and how the little one was throwing a tantrum and trust her to say how good little S actualy is and how I threw more tantrums when I was small.This Dal is like me who lounges in a faded pajama watching inane serials in Sony (yeah we have that now, courtesy my parents) and scrambles at the nth moment to write up a post for an event which is almost over.This is Comfort personified.

Pressure Cook the 1 cup Masur Dal with 2 and ½ cups of water and a pinch of turmeric. Once it is cooked mix it well with a whisk. The time to cook depends on your cooker. I use a Futura which needs 3 minutes after the full steam build up.Heat oil and add the phoron, or as we say temper with Panch Phoron. You can also use Kalo jeera/Kalonji/Nigella Seds if you do not have Panch PuranAdd the finely sliced onions and fry till they turn pink in color. Add the chopped green chillies.Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they become a fine pulpAdd the previously cooked dal.Mix well.Add salt, sugar and about 3-4 cups of water. If you feel you need to add more water do so.Cook till you hear a nice bubbling sound. Remember to stir infrequently during this process.Also continue cook till the thickness of the dal is according to your likingGarnish with chopped coriander leaves and lime juice

Hi,This is a variation of the same dal.1. Pressure cook half a cup of dal with 1 and a 1/2 cups of water, a pinch of holud and lal mirchi powder and salt to taste.2. Heat shorshe tel and after it smokes add 2 big whole red dry chillies.3. Then add one finely sliced onion.4. After the dal is pressure cooked add it to this onion mixture and place it on a low fire.5. Add quarter teaspoon of sugar to this (my boudi says this brings out all the flavours).6. Keep stirring to prevent the dal from sticking to the base of the pan and add water to make it the consistency that you want.7. Remove from fire and your dal is ready to eat.

The trick of this dal is that the more its is cooked the more its flavours are released.

Ha Ha Ha! When I read this post just couldnt stop smiling. My staple diet for sometime now and the easiest and fastest to cook with aloo sheddho what else do you need. Also, khichuri can also me made with this daal.

Hi Sandeepa -- don't you love the grandmother's take on grandchildren (especially the girl, in my case). When my daughter was small and throwing fits, she was never being fresh or acting up, she was "spirited". Haha! ;)

I love masoor dal, and I even have panch phoron (yet to try it!). I will be making this very soon - thanks for the tradtional recipe and lovely write-up :)

oh how sweet, the way you describe your relationship with masoor dal, haha... was "marriage for dummies" useful? if it's of any comfort, i bitch a lot about my own hubby, too (usually to the mirror), then feel bad about it later. :)

hmm, can i replace masoor dal with toor dal? i'll ask a dummy question, but you said to "whisk" the lentils, do you mean with an egg beater, or with a blender? Because for my lousy dhansak the other day, I went and blended my lentils, so maybe i shouldn't have...

TruptiYou do not need "marriage for dummies", you are too good to be true :)

SwapnaHow we alaways go back to our simple food isn't it. Whenever we come back from a travel/vacation I crave for this Dal after all that outside food

LindaOMG your Mom sounds to be exactly the same. Funny :)

Shilpa (Aayis Recipe)Yeah let me know if you liked it. Its very light and simple

ShilpaYou don't know what all I google for after a fight :) It's been 7 years now so I have moved on to lot more googling ;-)When I say Whisk, I mean to mix it a little with a "wire whisk". Do not use the blender. You can also just use the fork, no need to blend, just mix a little, its mushy already, you don't want a puree.

Haha, that's a relief, I thought I was being dramatic with the things I google about after a fight! ;-) Now I think it's only human.. It'll be 6 years for me soon, and sometimes I wonder how he tolerates me! :)

OK, thanks for the whisking advice! If I make this soup this weekend, I'll link back to you!

ShilpaIf you have made any other dal with just tadka, this will be almost a similar process. But remeber Tor Dal takes more time to get cooked, this Masoor takes less than half the time, so keep that in mind when you pressure cook

Also I don't think this tempering goes with Toor, never tried it, but I think each dal has their own unique tadka. Also "Panch Phoron" is very Bong and Toor Dal not much i.e. Toor Dal is not used that much in Bengali cuisine so I don't know about the resulting taste. If you do try, let me know though, and that would be a new thing

Sandeepa,How do you manage to write so beautifully girl. Always and always love to read your write up and coming to the soup ans you rightly said dal soup are indeed very comforting. I have never tried one with masoor dal. Am gonna make it for sure as I am a soup lover.Thanx a bunch

Dear Sandeepa, I don't know what happened to my message.. just to tell you that I'll make this when I get masoor dal, don't want to tamper with your recipe! :) Also to tell you that I finally tried bittergourd for the first time in my life! :)

Sorry for harassing you with so many messages! :) Have a great weekend!

Great work on the banner for plagiarism. I have it up on my blog as well. My mom gave me a whole jar of masoor dal, and I had no idea what to do with it. I will definitely be trying your recipe out. Bookmarked it!

Hisure I would want to try this comfort soup of yours. The color of the soup looks so inviting and wld be great to start with for a lunch.Chk here for a thread on low calorie soups:http://www.indusladies.com/forums/miscellaneous-recipes/4390-low-calorie-soups-reduce-weight.html

It's surprising to read this as I just thought masur dal as comfort food 2 days back. I just stumbled into making masur dal and came up with the same recipe (no panch phoron but with garlic) by myself. My whole family likes it very much. Ilike your blog very much.Purnima

I recently found out that i am pregnant! :) very happy and all! but my taste buds seem to have gone crazy and i seem to want to eat very traditional bangla ranna ( my father is bengali) anyway, reading your blog has been terrific, you bring a lot more than food to life, i shall try a couple (as many as i can actually!) of your recipes! Thanks!

I really enjoy your blog. I make masoor soup all the time. A couple of things my mom told me that use is a little different and I thought I would share: I use celery seeds (radhuni) and hing. Also, I use bits of mushroom and carrots (not necessary) as part of the soup. It's really awesome.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine